The proposed changes would formally designate CDIC as the resolution authority for its members and formally require Canada’s biggest banks to develop and submit resolution plans.

“CDIC welcomes these initiatives as they are in keeping with international standards and would enhance Canada’s resolution framework,” said Greg Cowper, CDIC’s Managing Director of Policy, Insurance and Emerging Risk.

Mr. Cowper informed the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce that, following the financial crisis, CDIC’s powers and tools have been expanded to facilitate the orderly resolution of Canada’s domestic systemically important banks in the event of a failure, which would now be formalized within the CDIC Act.

Since it was created in 1967, CDIC has dealt with 43 member failures affecting some 2 million Canadians. No one has lost a dollar of deposits under CDIC protection.

CDIC is a federal Crown corporation that contributes to the stability of the Canadian financial system by providing deposit insurance against the loss of eligible deposits at member institutions in the event of failure. CDIC protects approximately $700 billion of savings held by its member institutions which include banks, federally regulated credit unions as well as loan and trust companies and associations governed by the Cooperative Credit Associations Act that take deposits. CDIC is funded by premiums paid by member institutions and does not receive public funds to operate.